flowers, flowers everwhere .....with given love

I love flowers..... they seem to be everywhere just now, which I am happy about.

Flowers on cards.

Really enjoyed making these two cards on Tuesday night at card class in Sally's shop.

The first is made with hearts cut out on pearlised card and was fiddly and frustrating.




But the card it made was very pretty,
and just what I needed to give to my Lovely mate Emma.
It's hard when someone you care about is hurting over the death of a much loved friend.

HUGS.

Emma we are here for you, you have been such a great mate to me.
If I can do anything to help then just let me know....

And the second one is more of a fun card.
A cute purple and yellow daisy combo.



Looks very simple on the outside.

And then you get the pop up surprise when you open it.

And lastly.....I just love this fairy stamp and she looks right at home on this green background.



Then today when Emma, Belle and I went to get our veggies from the stall in the field I saw these....they are a little wilted due to being car, but have perked up after a drink.


They are just beautiful! They have all the colours in my kitchen ....

Then we went to a local small garden centre....

How sweet are these wee chrysanthemums and are pink and white all in the same pot!
They are tiny wee flowers!
This Echinaechia was just stunning! I am planning one for the garden !
Its flower head was the size of my palm!

It was just lovely wandering around the garden centre, they have such amazing plants,
and they are so healthy.

But the reason we went there was I have been looking for something special.

I wanted a rosemary plant for Emma.
not only is it her fave herb to cook with, Emma loves the plant for its look and smell.

It is also for remembrance.....

"There's rosemary; that's for remembrance.
Pray, love, remember."
~Shakespeare, Hamlet

"Rosemary has been a symbol for remembrance since ancient times.
It has been used as a symbol of love and remembrance at both weddings and funerals,
as well as a number of other ceremonies.
For newlyweds, its a symbol of fidelity and a promise not to forget the vows they made that day; for loved ones who have passed on, a symbol of love and a promise not to forget the impact they had on your life and the memories that you shared with them."

And so ....I bought it for Emma, remberence for Deb.
Emma will always remember her and the joy that she brought to her life.
Not that she needs a plant to do so.

But I love plants, and I love the fact this plant will live on and give Emma joy.
Right now thats important for my friend.

4 of 4 last but not least

Hubby as well as making all sorts of Jam's and chutneys this week....
has helped me move the spare/craft/computer room around.
the result is a much nicer space for both of us to work in,
looks so much bigger and is at the moment almost organised!!!

He even put up two new shelves for me above my desk!!

At the moment, it just has cards on it...can't have an empty shelf can you!!!
Am delighted with it! Thanks lovely ! xx

Post 3 o4 four...cats & dogs

It was our lovely niece Robyn's birthday this week....
she is away on holiday with her fiance Paul. Hope they are having a fab time!

Here is an altered Cd with her cute wee Puppy Biscuit!



and card I made for her Birthday....



Actually made them a few weeks ago for her...and even remembered to post them !!!
I usually forget and find cards lying weeks later!!

This one is for my lovely friend S who has is poorly with an abscess on her boob!!
she loves cats...and is owned herself by a lovely black and white chap cat called Archie!
So a cat in a bra is perr-fect!

post 2 of 4 ....3 challanges in one card.

I have enjoyed reading blogs this week...and nearly didnt get any challenges done at all!

but this card is sort of a three in one card....

Chrissy's Friday fable was a gypsy theme.....
Thursdays challenge needed things with bling.....
and the ABC challenge was F for fairy.....

I rather like the image and will use that again in a few ideas I have.

post 1 of 4 ~ Harverst and Preserve.

Haven't been on blog much....have done little crafting...mojo has not been around......

Time to catch up.....

I love this time of year....harvesting and preserving the last of the crops to see you through the winter....
It brings out the witch in me!
But too much rain has ment that brambles and rasps for making jam with this year will have been bought rather than wild fruits picked on rambling walks.
It is not usually this wet, and I must admit , low iron levels in me and colder weather are making this time of year less pleasant for walking Poppy. Not that she minds being wet.....

Anyway....my Lovely Hubby makes some fantastic preserves....

This last batch he has done beetroot chutney, and a few of pickled beetroot,
both now maturing and mellowing in out kitchen larder , should be ready for Christmas.

The smell in the house with the hot vinegar...is fairly pungent.....but the end result is worth it!


Look at the colour of the chutney in the pan!





Poppy loves to help....this is her after licking the bottom of a greek yougurt tub.....
Nothing to do with preserving.....but she loves to be in the kitchen chaning her luck for a tit bit!

Debbies blog candy

Debbie at crafting fairy has had over the 10,000 hits so is offering some beautiful blue Christmas blog candy!
goo have a look at her lovely cards!

sunflowers and shopping

Was a lovely afternoon, dry but a bit dull at times...enough of the weather forecast....

Needed to get some veggies , and was not up to going to the supermarket....

I much prefer to shop here....

It is excess produce by a local organic small steading.
They have an honesty box and two stalls....one with plants ons pots of herbs.....


And the other with there weighed out produce , in brown bags with prices marked on them....



It is just the most tasty fruit & veg ever!

I got tatties, carrots, onions, fresh peas, aubergine, courgettes, tomatoes, parsley, kale, a bag of beetroot, a cucumber....
And something else which I can't think of right now, for £5!

Yummy!

They also sell bunches of mixed flowers from the garden ....£1 a bunch!
these sweet peas were so pretty and smelt divine!






I love the mix of colours and the yellow mini sunflower is soooo cute!

They only had one bag of carrots on the stall, so I asked the lady who owns it if they had any....she wandered off to get me some, and her hubby cycled back up the field a few minuets with some he had just pulled for me!

Now you DON'T get that in tescos!!!

After you get your shopping , you can wander over and see the horses.....


Although Poppy was so not impressed at her best mate Belle & Emma going to see them and not taking her with them!!
So we ended the day off with a walk in the woods.....


On our way to the veggie stall, we stopped to admire a field of sunflowers...
this picture dose not do them justice....they were just beautiful!
I need to go back on a sunnier day and get closer picture of them......


All in all a pleasant afternoon.

back to school!!

Poppy has been a wee madam....

She seems to think that since I am off work just now
that I should give her all my attention ....all of the time....



We met a lady the other day who told me that Labrador's go through a terrible two's stage....
between one and three years......

*sigh*



Anyway....she is very sweet....even though she is a wee thief....
she likes to pinch things from my beside cabinet, or craft table...including scissors!!!

She is only a year old and mainly a good wee dog, behaving most of the time.....
We are back at her dog class this evening,
she had a month off due to Summer holidays and her being spayed.
She dose well at the class, as long as none of the other doggies pay her any attention......

Then she just ignores me and spends all evening trying to go and see them!

Anyway......

I made these as a wee thank you for Donna & Graham who take the dog class.







They have helped us with a few of Poppy's behaviour problems...
like when she was afraid to climb up or down stairs,,,,
including three steps at the vets!!!

Donna spent ages one evening , and helped us completely fix the problem.

Donna has a beautiful Rottie who is a wee star and Graham has a Samoyed who is really funny.
Both dogs attend the class to do the demo's.

second Poppy page.....

Have done a second scrap book page with my lovely Poppy....

Am enjoying doing this much mire than I thought I would.

something new to try..........

Am still feeling run down, but trying to go out and do something each day to get out of the house and hopefully built up my energy levels again....Spent a couple of hours at Em's again today.
It's lovely that she only lives a short drive away.

I love pink and green combo's but haven't not done many cards with this on it....
The first card....I started with the pale green and silver hand made paper and wanted
to use the stamped image and two peel offs....


It kinda grew from there...not sure about it though....

This one I love!

It started with a bit of ribbon I spied in Emma's ample ribbon stash!!!
It is a pale cream with feint green on it, so pretty!
I even pinched the image from Em!

I did bring cake!!!


It has part of Laura's bebo quote on it.
Have been thinking about her a lot.....
I will take her memorial pages to her Aunt Bunty on Thursday.....

busy bee's & blog candies!!

Had a lovely afternoon with Emma & Belle,
we did some crafting, and had lots of giggles and laughs!
I know now why she has been so successful at craft clubs!
She is so easy to learn from.
Has a great style of teaching.....
( is that what you told me to say Emma? Did I get it right?)
*ducks* don't hit me again!!!!
I have a whole list of stuff I have seen on her blog that I want to know how to make!


Also did some Christmas cards for the troops....
and did some thank you cards.......to appear her soon enough!


And made this for Sammi's bloggy challenge!


Needed to do three things.....

1 ) make a purple sparkily card, well the fairy which is one of Sammi's is painted in a sparkle sukra pen. The green ribbon is shimmery, the purple card & backing Purple paper is shimmery........and there is silver embossing powder on the flowery backing card I made with chalk inks.......do you think thats sparkily enough Sammi?



2) list the blog candy here....done that......
3) add her to your blog roll...well I have her on my list of blogs I read....is that the same thing?

I also finished Laura's pages and will take them To Bunty on Thursday....
i have made six.
I will post about them after I have delivered them.
I am very proud of them.

'Cause not everything is black & white

I have made this Cd for a lovely mate of mine called Chris who I have worked with and known for many years.

I have thought long and hard about posting it on here....and here is why......


We have been through so tough times together, and she has a very strong faith.
I on the other hand, am a hippy chick, bordering on wiccan at times.

I believe in lots of things, none of this includes any formal religion at this time in my life.

I have had some pretty awful experiences , none of which I will go into here that involved "religious" people using their so called faith to justify abuse, bullying and down right nasty behaviour.

NOW, I am not for one moment saying everyone who has faith is like this,
hence my Chris is my friend.

She is one of the few people I will have religious discussions with.
Neither of us needed to convert each other, being able to discuses without judgment or criticisms. She is truly a lovely person.

We accept we believe in different things, and value our friendship.

I have many friends, who have many different beliefs and faiths, Christian, Muslims, Pagans, Catholics, Atheists all sorts.
As long as they are people who try their best and don't go out of their way to hurt people I will call them my friend.

Their belief or non belief make them who they are.


I believe that as long as you do no one no harm with your faith, beliefs, religion , non religion and it gets you through good times and bad then I fully support you and say good for you!
I never once have felt the need to make anyone else believe that I am right and they are wrong.
My beliefs are my own.

I see one of my strongest qualities is to see that life is not all black and white,
and agreeing to disagree is sometimes a hard thing to do.
This annoys some of my more religious family, resulting previously in many arguments and me walking out as they were so angry at my refusal to convert to their new found faith!
It came down to agreeing to disagree or me walking away from them for ever.
Not being a part of their or their children's lives.

I know this was hard for them, and it was not something I did lightly.
They are not happy with the outcome, and to be honest
do still try now and again to help me see their way is the right way.


But in asking me to respect their beliefs , I demanded the same back.
I feel I am a good person and will be judged at the end of this life ,
or the beginning of the next one.

But sometimes you have to be true to yourself....
and thats not always by doing what your family demand of you.
Our journeys are very much or own.
We can walk with them, but still see different things as we go along.

this post has rambled on way toooooooo long.
I hope it has not offended anyone as that was not my intention.
Sometimes.....I just ramble on!

Blog Candy for our hero's

Emma posted the other day about making Christmas cards to send to our troops for them to send to loved ones back home.
So come on girls....as if you needed any encouragement...

Go have a look and join in!

As some of you have already started making your Christmas cards...
do you fancy making a spare one for the Troops in Iraq or Afghanistan?
All you need to do is make an extra one...leave it blank inside so a member of our fantastic Forces can send it home to a loved one.



Emma is also offering some blog candy too!

Have done my first one.

the green holly background is material with lovely gold on it,
And the gingerbread man is sizzex die that I borrowed from Emma.

Fridays fable - "If" there are balloons

I have started really looking forward to Chrissy's Friday fables.
She laways posts beautful pieces of art with beautiful poems to get the old mojo going!
And this week is no exception!

I love "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

"IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:"

I think we all know someone who makes our lives difficult from time to time,
and it can be hard to keep your head.
But laughing at them can often be the most satisfying response....
maybe something to do more often....

Anyway.

The picture was " Ballooning over Paris "- I. Lane
And I have a new sugar nellie stamp that is just perfect for this....
As Maggie is holding a stick and you get four wee accessories to add on to stick.
One of them a balloon!
But I do like the thought of it being a wee wand!
Well me being a witch and all.....






I am going to send this to Nikki who has sent me a get well card.
Really made me smile today....

first scrapbook pages...taaa daaaaa

I did my first ever scrap book pages with the wonderful Emma yesterday!

BUT!

I can't show them here yet, cause they are to be sent to someone who reads this blog,
I will when I have finished them all...and delivered them, I have 4 in mind.
Finished one, which I am really proud of.
Have almost finished two more, and will start last one soon.
But the copies I have of some of the pictures are too grainy.
Need to get them emailed to me to print off properly.
Anyway.....

Here is my first one with out the help of master Emma......
I "bee" quiet proud of it!

I am thinking it may be a little too fussy , but I still like it!
I also managed to use my "stamp of the moment" Buzy bee,

But I added him after this picture was taken!

I have also entered it to the Thursday challenge. Which is all about colour


I can't crop it as the soft wear I have to do this is new, and I haven't figured it out yet!
But no worries, I have had no internet for a few days...and have missed you all....
Away to go see what you have all been up to!!
hugs Teen xx

thought for the day

I read this on BBC website today....and it is something I should take heed of more often....

Soul icon Isaac Hayes, who sadly died on Sunday aged 65, said......

"At the end of the day,
we are responsible for our own lives.
Once you learn that, you're on your way."

at the sea....

never saw any mermaids or pirates at the sea yesterday...but you will find loads of them here!
Bela's celebrating a missive hit with some beautiful blog candy! go check it out!

sunshine & laughter is the best medicine

sunshine & laughter is sooooooo the best medicine !
was struggling with cabin fever today,
you know that feeling when you just need to go outside
and spend time with people who make you smile?!?

Well Poppy & I spent a wee while today with Belle & Emma.
We took some lovely pics, and got some beautiful ones of Belle.
But I don't feel I can put them on the blog, for many reasons.
I have emailed them to Emma and she has emailed them to hubby,
so he will get a lovely surprise the next time he opens his emails!

We went to some woods, and when you walk over the hill you see the sea!
Quite beautiful!

This arty shot was taken but Emma!


I am not sure why we have this shot.....again...Arty Emma!


Belle is freaking out over bees and spiders and well basically any insect at all just now,
so we are making a huge deal about saying hello mr bee, good bye mr bee, hello spider, hello wasps!...etc....
Secret between you and me...
I hate spiders....I don't mind bee's as long as they don't come too close!
I know they are harmless and they will only sting if provoked!!

But I will kill any wasp if it comes anywhere near me!!!

I don't trust them....and never will!

So here is our newest friend...mr bee....

That was taken while poppy who had been on the lead and is learning how to come back when called....decided to go see a group of five Labradors who were playing fetch the ball in the sea.....
The moment I let her off the lead!!

Thats Poppy in the distance...she is the little backl lab with her new friends....my shoes by the time I had got her were full of water and sand......



This was my happy, wet, sandy Poppy dog! happiness is....
I am really tired now, been having problems with energy and hoping that is something that will improve...
But today was good for the soul!

thanks Sammi!

I got this lovely lovely award today from Sammi!

And I promise I will pass it on in a wee while...



but I need to go walk Poppy dog who is being a wee pest!

Bargain Baby!!!!

One of our local craft shops has just moved to a beautiful new premises,
and on the display was the fab pink mega tote bags....


I have been after one for a while & went to Karen's new shoppie today with Emma ......
had a lovely time, Emma really cheered me up as I am having a crappy time just now....
it's lovely when friends are so supportive and help you though difficult times,
I would be lost without her!
Even thought she is having a crappy time herself.

So I had another look at the tote bags today and I got one....
they sell for £29.99 in some places,
But Karen is selling them for £24.99!!
This includes a WHOLE load of goodies so its over £100 worth of stuff!!!!!

But I got mine today in her shop for £20!!!

Yes £20 !!!!!!

bargain Baby!!!!

lazing on a Sundays afternoon....

had a lovely afternoon my my best wee mate Belle.
She brought her mum Emma along too but thats ok.
Had some food and watched some cartoons.
And chatted about this and that....
Didn't do any lego cause mum didn't bring any....

But all in all a lovely afternoon......Also got this beautiful ATC tag card from Emma, she's not bad as mates go you know!

for Lynne

Happy Birthday to Lynne on Tuesday

...taking a pic before I post this to her.




I have shamefully a fair few cards I have made for people and then forgotten to post....
have had a clear out and sent them anyway....
with a note inside saying, made this for you, then I lost it in my craft room!

blog candy links....

some beautiful blog candy on offer here....
from Claudia
Katharina
Debbie
Lauren
Enfys
am a way to go and have a better look around these lovely sites.

Happy Birthday Bunty

Yesterday was my dearest friend Bunty's Birthday.
I didn't post this yesterday as I wanted to make sure the postie had been,
but since I didn't use elf post it got there just fine!

I send her this CD card with a quote that her beautiful niece Laura has on her bebo.
As you may know Laura died last month, and I was really torn weather or not to put it on the CD.

It sums Laura up.
And the amazing message she has left on all our hearts.

To love is Nothing.
To be loved is Something.
To love & be loved is Everything.

I made a few wee simple note cards and sent them in my first ever wallet card.




Bunty is an amazing women who fights for everyone who needs help!
She is an inspiration to me and many other who know and love her,

She was a tower of strength to Laura & Rich, and now to everyone who mourns Laura,
even though her own heart is breaking with her loss.